“Today, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Keir Starmer QC, and the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Richard Alderman, issued joint guidance for prosecutors on the Bribery Act 2010.”

“The disclosure of information by a person to the Serious Fraud Office (‘SFO’) pursuant to the latter’s statutory powers under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 did not give rise to any implied undertaking to any court not to use the documents other than for the purposes of a prosecution, actual or potential, or any undertaking to the court not to provide them to any person other than through one of the gateways under section 3 of the Act.”

“The Serious Fraud Office published figures today showing its conviction rate had jumped over the last year despite steep budget cuts in a direct riposte to critics who have called for the crime agency to be scrapped.”